Pedestal Fans of various sizes have been used for many years. The normal use of a pedestal fan is to provide a cooling sensation to the body. This is accomplished by the current of air generated by the fan or air-moving device passing over the skin of an individual. The current of air that passes over an individual serves to increase the convective heat loss of the body through the natural evaporative process of moisture (sweat) on the skin. The greater the amount of evaporation the greater the sensation of cooling. The upper portion of the body is more exposed, (head, arms, hands, etc.). This allows the upper portion of the body to experience a greater cooling sensation as the body attempts to naturally dissipate heat through evaporation.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional pedestal fan 10 is specifically designed to augment this effect by locating the air generation device at a level above the floor that corresponds to the upper portion of the body. In pedestal fan 10, air 12 is created by axial fan assembly 14 (comprising fan head 16, fan blade 18, front grill 20 and rear grill 22). Axial fan assembly 14 is set above the floor by pedestal 24 and stabilized by large base 28 such that air 12 can be positioned above the floor to provide comfort to the upper portion of user 26.
The size of the air delivery device (axial fan assembly 14) in conventional pedestal fan 10 is very large due to the diameter of axial blade 18, further requiring additional large guards (grills) 20, 22, to protect user 26 from blade 18. In addition, and as shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, conventional pedestal fan 10 requires significant area for oscillation 29, at least as large, if not larger, than the diameter of the grills 20, 22, so that the cooling effect can be distributed into the living space (not shown). In addition, because of the size and weight distribution of fan assembly 14, base 28 must be sufficiently large to support fan assembly 14 to prevent tipping.
Another fan that attempts to augment this upper body cooling effect is what is commonly referred to as a tower fan. As shown in FIGS. 3A-3B, tower fans 30, 40 create an elongated air delivery area 32, 42 toward a lower portion of user 26 and, thus, are unable to provide a desired cooling effect to the user.
In addition to the aforementioned deficiencies, pedestal fan 10 requires a significant amount of packaging material as well as space for shipment to the ultimate destination. As shown in FIG. 4A, conventional pedestal fan 10 is shipped to the user in a disassembled form in shipping box 50. Typically, shipping box 50 is stacked with many other shipping boxes 50 on pallets 52 (shown in FIG. 5B) with multiple pallets 52 shipped together in an overland or over water shipping container 54. Due to its large size, and the requirement of retailers that product be provided on skids for easy handling, the number of units of fan 10 that may be stacked on skid 52 is about 48 units. Further, due to this low skid yield, the number of pedestal fans 10 that may be contained within shipping container 54 is about 864.
The packaging of Tower fan 40 is illustrated in FIG. 4B. Similar to package 50, package 56 containing tower fan 40 has a significant volume, albeit slightly less than that of pedestal fan 10. FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate the shipping efficiency of this configuration with a typical skid 52 having a capacity of 44 units and shipping container 54 having a capacity of 1320 units.
Thus, the costs for shipping of these fan units impact the ultimate price at which a manufacturer may sell his product to a distributor or retailer.
In view of these deficiencies, there is a need for a fan that has a space saving configuration and provides comfort to an upper portion of a user's body.
In addition, there is a need for a fan construction which is easily packaged and shipped in a manner that reduces shipping and handling costs per unit.